_Cornell has been selected to lead a national, five-year, $10 million
Environmental Protection Agency environmental education professional
development program.

Traditionally, environmental educators have
focused on pristine, natural environments while teaching in schools,
nature centers and outdoor education centers. More recently, a new
tradition is emerging in cities, with community development,
environmental restoration and social justice groups also teaching
environmental education, largely to minority and urban youth. Cornell's
"EECapacity" project seeks to link these two types of educators through
workshops, online courses and other means, and to create opportunities
to exchange ideas, practices and resources.

Through a series of
workshops and innovative outreach strategies, EECapacity will bring
educators together from traditional and nontraditional urban backgrounds
to exchange ideas and resources, form social networks.

Additionally,
there will be a research component to test the notion that diverse
groups of educators, given opportunities to share practices and ideas,
will develop innovative environmental education practices.

Among
more than 30 collaborators, major partners include the North American
Association for Environmental Education and its State Affiliate Network;
Environmental Education Exchange; Akiima Price Consulting; the
Association of Zoos and Aquariums; Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology;
Green Guerillas Youth Media Tech Collective; Institute for Learning
Innovation; the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
People's Garden Initiative.

_With over 80% of the US population living in urban areas there is a need for programs that help urban residents become more environmentally literate. Informed perspectives about the health and well being of a community empower residents to make their neighborhoods a safer, cleaner, and healthier place to live.

Whats Good in My Hood? is designed to be useful for schools, homes, after school programs, youth groups, and any other groups interested in having a dialogue about their community and making their community a better place.